Hi guys, this is my first build ever so please go easy on me. The name GLIDIATOR is a mix of Glider & Gladiator as this is meant to be easy flying yet tough plane. I will be posting the build thread in sections as my GPRS connection is killing me. So the photos will also be heavily resized so please bear with me.

 
Before I start the thread I would like to thank RCI member R C without whom i'd still be sittin here staring at other people's build threads instead of posting my own. Even though he barely knew me for a month and had met me only once that too for like 30 seconds, he invited me to stay with him in Bangalore, helped me build the fuselage (more like built 99% of it himself ), introduced me to many other aeromodellers in Bangalore, taught me all the tricks of scratchbuilding and then sent me home with all the materials that are required to finish the rest of the plane. Thanks R C!!! And thanks Anwar bhai for giving us such a wonderful forum without which I would've just given up on aeromodelling and sold off all my stuff.

Ok enough of the emotional stuff, moving onto section 1: The fuselage

The fuselage sides were first cut out of 3mm coro and then the frame was constructed onto it using wooden sticks (4mm strips of the flat wooden patti that is used to line doors and stuff).

The tail feathers are also made of 3mm coro and the hinges are the traditional coro hinges (by cutting one layer of the coro along one of the flutes)

(Will post the exact dimensions of the fuselage & tail feathers later)

Section 2: The pushrods

The pushrods are made from the same wooden sticks that are used to make the fuselage frame. Grooves are cut into the ends of the sticks and cycle spokes are glued into them using CA.
 
On one side of the sticks be sure to glue the spoke with the threaded side towards the outside (so that you can glue the clevis onto it).
Check the diameter of the spokes and buy the appropriate size clevises to sit on the threaded end of the spokes.

Section 3: The servos

For simplicity sake, I decided not to use a servo tray and just ziptied the servos onto the side of the fuselage.

On the outside of the fuselage I glued transparent plastic cutouts (with holes for the zipties to pass through) so that the ties do not cut through the coro.

(You can buy the zipties at stationary stores. The are sometimes called  cable ties or cable organisers)

I attached the pushrods to the servos horns using adjustable servo connectors.

(servos will soon be replaced by corona 12g metal gear servos and also double sided tape will be added to secure them.)

Section 4: The hot wire cutter

The frame for the cutter is made of scrap wood that I found lying around the the house.

The string (no.1 guitar string) is attached to the frame by a activa/dio side stand spring on one side and the string tightening mechanism from a guitar on the other side. This allows me to adjust the tension with minimum effort.

I've used a 12Volt 5A transformer, a ceiling fan regulator and no.1 guitar string.

section 5: The wings.

Instead of cutting the wings using the traditional hot wire method (i.e. with wooden airfoil sections kept on either side) I used a different method which is easier and requires a smaller hot wire cutter. It may also be done using a long blade if a hot wire cutter is not available.

I call this the USTAD - Ultra Simple Thermocol Airfoil Design


I cut a 1" thermocol sheet into wing shape i.e. 9" wide sheets. Then I embedded a wooden spar into the top of it (1/3rd the way from the leading edge) by cutting a groove using a blade and then glued it in place using 1 minute epoxy.

Then I ran the hot wire cutter over the top of the wing as shown in the first picture. The cut is quite smooth as the spar supports the hot wire on one side and I used the edge of the table as support for the other side.

I have only done the middle section of the wing so far. After finishing it I plan to sand the surfaces smooth and cover with cellophane or kite paper using fevicol diluted in water to glue it.





This is a scratch build so I dont have any plans.. But I will post the build in as much detail as possible.. If you have any questions feel free to ask

This is all the progress I've made so far..

1)What do you guys think?
2)What is the best way to sand the thermocol wings without it breaking up into thermo balls?

Thanks for reading..

A lot of effort is going in into building the Glidiator. You have my respect, any time and any day. May the winds favour you! God bless!

Thank you VC sir.. It means a lot coming from you Sir do you have any tips for sanding thermocol? Also should I cover it with cellophane or kite paper (using diluted fevicol)?

Good going. The fuse has come up well. Wonder why you chose to make the wing out of thermocole. Coro should do the job equally well.

-Ismail

Coro wing will be much heavier.. And also I've run out of coro.. Besides, I really wanted to use the hot wire cutter

Nice stuff you have.Finish it as quickly as you can and enjoy your flying.Most of all,keep us updated.

Thanks I will try to finish and maiden it in this week itself.. I'm just worried as this will be my first time flying..

I am still not able to make planes from corro
i just cannot handle this stuff
i dont how people come out with such beautifull things with this material

Its quite a easy material to work with Akky.. It sticks well with CA.. And best of all you don't have to break your head about hinges.. You only have to be careful when ur cutting diagonally through the flutes.. The blade tends to jump off course every time it has to cut across a flute wall.. But that to can be solved by changing the direction of the blade such that the flutes push the blade into the ruler/guide that ur using..

Thats a nice build. I have quite a lot of 10mm thermocol sheets lying here so will make use of it Will get in touch with R C for help

Waiting for the maiden

Building a model as well as presenting a building log simultaneously is a tough job.
But making the model; taking photographs at right time and explaining it later to your fellow members is very self satisfaction job. 
I congratulate you for presenting a nice building log here. 
After completion of this project please make a video with your building log and upload in youtube.com. You will get many responses around the globe. 

met aneesh today and drilled holes in the servo horns
such a cool plane!
i look forward to attend the maiden of her with him!
best of luck

Excellent Job Aneesh.....Just Great!!!!
Ohh If I were in GOA now!!!!......
About sanding your thermocole wing......use a fine sand paper ,sand lightly...not with pressure...don't think the thermocole would crumble so easily..You already have the aerofoil shape with the help of your Hot Wire Cutter....coat/s of Fevicol and paint will make your wing nice and strong.....I don't think it would require any sort of covering.......
   Good work once again......Keep it up and Go FLY!!!!

Aha!! so this is what you were up to at the Mandur Health Center eh??
just imagine is the Dean of GMC comes to know...
Awesome build fellow friend..Lucky Prateek will be there with you at the maiden?
where have you guys planned to fly?
Just one suggestion, I don't know if it applies but why did you not place the zip tie locks at the inside of the fuselage?
Waiting to see your maiden...

Thanks guys.. I just connected all the linkages.. Thanks prateek for drilling the servo horns for me, the connectors fit perfectly

@Rajathv8: R C is coming down to Goa now.. Once he gets back to Bangalore you should get in touch with him.. He'll surely help you..

@Anwar & Sb_Maharana: Thanks! Will post the vid as soon as I maiden her

@Jonboy20: Hey John, congratulations on your first post! I was wondering when you were going to break radio silence I'll try with fevicol first, if it doesn't work then I'll go for covering.. Will start sanding tomo..

@contrloflyer: He He.. Till the plane is ready, the health of the Mandur people is safe in the hands of my fellow interns! There's barely any work to do here.. I'm done with my patients by lunchtime.. Then I just have to go and show my face periodically for attendance purposes

I kept the zip-ties on the outside as I used pliers to tighten them and didn't want to damage the fuselage/servos in the process.. Will keep them inside when I'm replacing  the HXTs with the corona metal gear servos..

Aneesh!

Look at the Kuwaiti Local e-bay of hobby related products..



http://www.q8hobby.com/

Hey Dorwin, nice site!

And I just finished fitting all the linkages.. I've used adjustable connectors on the servo horns.. And threaded clevisis on the other end..

How much should the throws be ideally?

Forum member R C came to my hostel today.. so we decided to test glide the plane.. It glided so beautifully that we decided it was time for her first powered test flight   

So we flew it... Straight into a tree!     

For some reason the plane kept trying to go left (we already checked the balance and control surfaces).. And got stuck in a tree! One of R Cs friends tried to climb up and rescue the plane but he couldn't reach it and it was about to start raining.. So out of desperation as a last resort we decided to launch a ground to air footwear missile  So up went R Cs shoe and down came the plane.. And a brilliant catch by R Cs friend  So my plane lives to fly another day 

The thermocol wing is surprisingly strong and came out with only a few scratches and bruises.. 

Photos and videos will be uploaded as soon as possible.. Unfortunately the camera was off during the test flight.. But to make up for it I'll upload the shoe toss video 
(Finally a video of a shoe being tossed at something other than a politician!  )

In the mean while here are photos of the completed wing (no covering).. The second pic shows the airfoil..

hey looking good dotor!
anxiously waiting for the "shoe rescue" ceremony video! 

Hey,
I will put the video tomorrow.

Here is the test glide video of Medicineman's Glidiator

Nice Glide 

Awesome glide dudes!!
chance tumcho! you guys can be wid the maiden 
wish I was there too...

we flew the glidiator today
it was a blast!

Hey guys, I cant put in words how happy I am! After 7 years of sitting in my cupboard my equipment was put to good use.. This is my first plane and my first time flying! I cant believe I actually managed to hand launch it, fly it and land it in one piece! Thank you for all your support!

Bravo! Patience bears fruit. I know the way you feel. Well done!
"PERFECT Glide, awesome!" I couldn't put it better! Well done brother!

again congrats!
and we will again fly it again soon

Oh and she flies beautifully! Slightly tail heavy but I managed to give some down elevator trim and control it.. Next time I'll move the CG further forwards.. Also had to give a little right rudder trim but will fix that using the adjustable servo connectors before the next flight.. Thanks Prateek for the video.. if you weren't there I don't think I would've had the courage to try and fly..

thanx!
my pleasure
i will be always there with you for any help!
and don't mind asking about anything at anytime bro

Thank you so much VC sir..

  Goan flyers just passed the "Wright Brothers" stage  
Awesome built, awesome flight and an awesome entourage of fellow hobbyists!
Looked like "Fellowship of the Plane"
Congratulations Aneesh, Prateek and RC!
You guys have really brought meanings to words like  "helpful" and "determination"
I just wish I was there to see her fly and shout along with Prateek  
"solid udta re baba"

Where did you guys fly ?

Thanks Dorwin! No need to come all the way.. We can hear you shouting from here
We flew at Nagalli Hills.. But Goa University ground is much better.. We could not fly there as its become slushy due to rain..

What do you think about the flight? Initially after takeoff it was trying to go upwards and to the left.. But then it became super stable after I trimmed it.. When I did the overhead pass, the plane was pretty much flying itself..

Congrats Aneesh,

You did it..................                               

It glides nicely.
 

Thanks RC! I owe it all to you! I was wondering how you didn't comment for so long.. Please post the shoe tossing video too.. 

Hey Anish,
November when i come, will fly your nitro model. Make it ready to fly.
Till then enjoy your electric model.

Nitro model is ready.. just needs fuel.. and a spinner..

Hey guys, can you suggest some colour schemes for the glidiator? I have decided to colour it so as to aid visibility..

try some cool decals like this-
and also the stickers you got from HK.
colours like light red and blue are good!

http://www.rcindia.org/fuel-and-engines/confirmed-source-of-glow-nitro-fuel-with-shipping-all-over-india

could be a good option for fuel!

I wasn't talkin about decals.. I wanted suggestions for the overall colour scheme of the plane.. The all white body + wing tends to blend into the sky.. suggestions anyone??

medicineman,
very nice flier!. very slow steady and stable. congrats.
ashta

Aneesh!
Why don't you camo paint it? 
All my planes and helis are always camo...hehehehe...I don't know why I do that but, just like the paint!!

and for for decals you do not have to go anywhere and not hobbyking atleast...
just go to Panjim, near Kundaikar nagar, there is a vinyl printing and cutting shop,
Just ask anyone where RDL is..
Its just above neeta sarees...
They do machine cutting vinyls and reflector tape cuttings, very very cheap..

just remembered about the post and while reading i also remembered that R C had to post the shoe tossing ceremony vid
please post as i am very curious!

Prateek i just forgot abt it, i dont have the video now with me, i will post it on sunday.

wow.... congratulations and celebrations

Thanks guys! I was offline for such a long time.. Jus saw the thread 2day..



I like camo paint too


Hey, please post the video even I haven't seen the video yet..

The 2nd flight video (which I had posted in another thread)..





Hey guys, some pictures of the painting process of the Glidiator.. Its been stripped of all electronics/pushrods etc.. I'm using Acrylic colours (orange/black).. Our college recently purchased huge refrigerators and so I got tons of bubble wrap which you can see spread over the floor.. Its keeps popping when I walk around which gets quite irritating but then it protects the floor so I don't mind

Some more pics..

Here is the completed Glidiator.. Sorry for updating so the thread so late but I barely get any time for RC nowadays.. The decals are the GWS ones which I downloaded.. I printed the outline and then painted on it with the colours.. Then I cut them out and glued them onto the wings with Fevicol.. The electronics are yet to be installed.. Waiting for the paint to dry

The last pic shows the modification done to the wing.. I've wrapped pieces of coro around the LE & TE near the center portion so the rubber bands don't bite into the thermocol.. Also I've cut into the wing near the TE as the plane was a bit tail heavy even with all the weight moved to the front.. Hopefully this will fix the issue.. Test flight in the evening if weather prevails..

What do you guys think? Waiting for your feedback

Nice paint work and flying medicineman. 
I would like to get some more info on your build process
1. Do you have the (pdf) plans for this or atleast the dimensions ?
2. Are your pushrods made of 4mm patti (beading)?
3. @what voltage did you use the hotwire and what is your string length ?
4. How much did you pay for the 12v 5A transformer ?
5. What is the reinforcement that you have used for your thermacole wing ?
6. Is the acrylic paint directly on the thermacole or do you have the kite paper as you planned earlier ?

This would be a very good reference for new scratch builders.
Great log and keep em coming.     

Woah wicked lookink glider there - suits the name glidator

Thanks guys 

@Drone:
1. PDF plans coming soon.
2. Pushrods/wood frame for the body/wing reinforcement are all made from the same wood patti which was sliced into sticks (approx 4mm x 4mm cross section).
3. Hotwire works on 12v transformer so voltage must be around 13v. Didn't measure the voltage.
4. 12v 5A transformer cost me 350/- Rs in Mumbai.
5. The thermocol wing has a single spar (the same patti sticks from point 2) running across the top of it. The polyhedral angles are held by two 1.5" pieces of cycle spokes bent into that angle and glued on either side with CA. If you look carefully you can see it in the above pics. The spar sticks out about a third of a cm on either side for ease of balancing CG.
6. Paint is applied directly on the thermocol. It holds the paint quite well. But while painting on the coro you must sand it down, then clean it nicely and then paint it with a thin coat..

Hope this was helpful For the wing reinforcement see some of the earlier pics..

Hey guys, just did a flight.. The cut in the wing fixed the CG issue.. I had a awesome flight!! Flew for over 12 minutes.. Did some inside loops as well as outside loops.. This is my third flight ever.. I'm so excited!! The video is shot in 720p so can't upload it so soon.. Also the camera kept losing focus again and again for some reason.. Will cut out the blurry parts and upload the video soon..

And I also let my dad fly.. He flew quite well for a few seconds but the tried to nose-dive straight into the ground so I had to take over

And what do you guys think about the paint job? (see the pics above.. 4 posts up)

i love the paint job, it a whole new plane now. waiting for the video.

I got 2 woids for you!!
Awesomely superb!!

I must say for a guy in a mental asylum, getting this kinda outcome is like the "zeroth law of thermodynamics"

Amazing work done fellow brother..

Looking at your flying skills, we will have atleast one flyable plane in December

coooooooooooooooooooooollllllll!
good use of your surgical capacity hands!

Thanks guys.. Sorry for not replying earlier.. Was surfing from my mobile and was having trouble replying..


My psychiatry posting is finally over! A few more days there and i'd go mad..

nice job

Nice build and thanks for sharing.

Any clue about plan.

umm..... im still trying to build ma first plane........... can u help me....    by the way, what is your plane made of? can u post more pictures so i can build one too??

i just saw the pics u posted, and could u tell me the exact dimensions of the plane?

Please read through this thread and others carefully, and do not try to do this like "fast food"

The material details and part of the dimensions are in this thread, just go slow and methodically to spot them !

http://www.rcindia.org/self-designed-diy-and-college-projects/glidiator-my-first-trainer-build-log/msg30109/#msg30109

Hi Aneesh,

Gone through your whole thread on the build log -Very well written & explained with picture & illustration & also some Videos. Just imagine your how could you help a new aeromodeller ,This thread is great for beginner Very well written & also flown ,I've very surprised to see to fly so well on the electric.Great -Im proud of you for not giving up on aeromedelling.Do keep it up.

Very surprising that you have suddenly  disappered my self & noel have been flying the our nitro engine.I've got a jupiter -Pattern flying -just great at the beginning she was totally instable due to CG as this model has 6 servos & a very long fuselage but after making some minor modification,she is flying great ,In fact Noel & self flew both together & we very chasing each other.

Missed you. do reply or call -If weather is good tomorrow will go to fly ,your welcomed

regards
peter

Hi
A wonderful a/c & an inspirational build.
Can you please share the dimensions?
It would be of a great reference for building an aircraft.

Regards
Vaibhav

I did read

Thanks i got reference sizes from
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=836844
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1138106

Friends..its an awesome machine...nice job...